Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Wood, George Adam
WOOD, Sir GEORGE ADAM (1767–1831), major-general royal artillery, governor of Carlisle, was born in 1767. After passing through the Royal Military Academy at Woolwich, he received a commission as second lieutenant in the royal artillery on 24 May 1781. His further commissions were dated: lieutenant, 15 May 1790; captain-lieutenant, 7 Jan. 1795; captain, 3 Dec. 1800; major, 24 July 1806; lieutenant-colonel, 1 Feb. 1808; brevet colonel, 4 June 1814; regimental colonel, 11 May 1820; major-general, 27 May 1825. He served with the army under the Duke of York in Flanders in the campaigns 1793 to 1795, taking part in the principal operations. Shortly after his return to England he went to the West Indies, and was present under Abercromby at the capture of St. Lucia in May 1796, and of St. Vincent in June of that year. In February 1797 he sailed with Abercromby's expedition from Martinique to the Gulf of Paria, was at the capture of Trinidad on 17 Feb., and at the subsequent unsuccessful attempt on Porto Rico.
Wood served with distinction in the Mediterranean from 1806 until 1808; he then went to Portugal, took part in Sir John Moore's campaign, was at the battle of Coruña on 16 Jan. 1809, and returned with the British army to England. In July he was in the expedition under the Earl of Chatham to Walcheren, and was at the siege of Flushing and its capture on 14 Aug. He was knighted on 22 May 1812. He commanded the royal artillery of the army under Sir Thomas Graham (afterwards Lord Lynedoch) [q. v.] which co-operated with the allies in Holland and Flanders. Landing at Rotterdam in December 1813, he was at the siege of Antwerp in January 1814, and at the action of Merxem on the 13th of that month. He was at the unsuccessful assault on Bergen-op-Zoom on 8 March, and the subsequent blockade of that place and of Antwerp. For his services he received brevet promotion, and was made an aide-de-camp to the king.
In 1815 Wood commanded the whole of the royal artillery in the Waterloo campaign, in the battles of Quatre Bras (16 June) and of Waterloo (18 June), in the march to Paris and the operations against the fortresses of Maubeuge, Landrecy, Marienbourg, Philippeville, and Cambray, and at the entry into Paris on 7 July. For his services in this campaign Wood was mentioned in despatches, was made a C.B., received the Waterloo medal, and was permitted to accept and wear the insignia of the fourth class of the order of St. Wladimir of Russia, the third class of the order of Wilhelm of the Netherlands, and the knighthood of the order of Maria Theresa of Austria; and in the following year he was made a knight commander of the royal Hanoverian Guelphic order. He commanded the British artillery of the army of occupation in France until 1819, when he returned to England. He was appointed governor of Carlisle on 18 June 1825. He died in London on 22 April 1831.
[War Office Records; Despatches; Royal Artillery Records; Royal Military Calendar, 1820; Duncan's History of the Royal Artillery; Siborne's Waterloo Campaign; Gent. Mag. 1831.]